Keep on thinking….

technology

I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but Google has released its answer to Facebook………. Google+! It’s a breath of fresh air and I love it!!

Basically, it seems to be a bit of a cross between Facebook and Twitter, with all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses. Needless to say, I’m loving it.

Instead of having just a list of friends who see everything you post, G+ has something called circles (this is my fav part). In this, you split your friends/relatives/contacts into different circles, then when you post something, you can choose who see’s it (I don’t want my mum seeing pics of me on the lash but my friends would, nor do my rugby chums want to see lots of pictures of my little girl but my family do). Also, you can split out your stream so instead of getting loads of Farmville rubbish all the time, you can select specific circles that will show up. It’s GENIUS!!!

The only issue at the moment is it’s not open to the public yet. Still in test mode and to gain access, you need to be invited. And all you lucky readers can get involved!! I have invites galore, so if you’d care to join up and see what’s got me excited, here’s the link: Google+ Invite There are only 150 invites per person, so be quick.

As it’s still in test mode, I’ll report back with any updates and stuff I find……..

I’ve not blogged for ages and since then, I’ve won a new iPad. So let’s put two and two together and I’ll blog, using my new toy ABOUT my new toy.

So I’m sat at work a few weeks ago when an email pings up from our big accountants saying:

“Here’s your chance to win an iPad 2 3G!”

Normally, those type of emails get filed in the trash folder, but something made me go for this one. So I did their questionnaire and sent it off. Two weeks later, I get a call from our accountants. I think they’re calling me to chase for money we owe them, but it was actually the director calling me to congratulate me on winning! SCHAWEET!!!

I was never going to buy an iPad. I have the iPhone and couldn’t justify paying £500+ for a large iPhone. Since having an iPad, I’m in love with it and take it everywhere! Yes, I still use my iPhone just as much, but the iPad is just nicer for some things. I still stand by the fact I’d never have bought one, but I do love this little gadget!

I’m an avid iPhone user. I love my iPhone4 and use it ALL of the time for everything I can.

I moved from my 3G to the iPhone 4 back in July and, at the time, my provider (along with the other main providers in the UK) said they were going to start capping data usage on all smartphones at 500mb a month. I looked back through my previous bills and I was averaging just under this a month. So I went with it and stuck with my current provider, even though I felt a little hard done by by having this cap forced on to me. In my mind, the only reason I have an iPhone is to use data and I’m being restricted. Little annoying to say the least, but everyone was doing it, so choices to change weren’t there.

Now, things are different! 3 mobile have announced an unlimited download “Open Plan” for smartphone users. True, 3 are not the biggest provider in the UK and their signal range is….. dubious. However, I think this will really bolster their customer list. If they can get their signal strength right, people WILL move. Hell, after reading this piece by the Guardian, I’m a little gutted I didn’t hold out longer.

But then again, I’ve been thinking the same thing about my iPhone. I know I just said how much I love my phone, and it’s true, it’s a fantastic piece of machinery and I couldn’t live without it anymore. Everything it does is so smooth and streamlined. But my wife has an HTC Desire. I’ve been playing with it (I feel kind of dirty admitting this)……. And I’ve been questioning my iPhone………

Let me break this down before I’m stoned for blasphemy. The iPhone IS amazing. No doubt about it. But it’s as fantastic as Steve Jobs wants it to be. You can’t make it yours. Every one of my friends iPhones, except for the apps, are the same as mine. This is due to the well-known restrictions applied by Apple.Android phones do not have this.

Now my wife’s HTC Desire is not fantastic. The battery life is appalling, seems to crash every now and again and isn’t quite as smooth as the iPhone. But when it’s good, boy is it good!! The Android operating system is so open. You want something, you can have it. Widgets, apps, set-up, and to top it all off, links beautifully with anything Google (for obvious reasons).

The main issue I have is this: Android is running the same path as windows, open to everyone for everything. This could lead to imperfect apps/widgets/software that are slow or crash. Apple is so stringent that these things just don’t happen.

But I’m wondering if I can survive these poor things and move to Android (got 18 months left in my contract, so got a while to think on it and decide which phone would be best) AND on the 3 network 🙂 . I’m such a whore!

My blog has gone a bit quiet of late. True, my blogging prowess has died off a bit of late, but I’m still get the odd reader here or there. I then post this blog yesterday which has the mildest of mild hints to nudity and my reader stats jump by nearly 3 times! Isn’t it amazing how one tag can have such a huge difference? Does this give credence to the urban myth that the internet is 90% porn (it isn’t, around 37% is the figure)? Or simply that people are naturally drawn to sex?

When I first started this post, I simply want another blog with the tag “nudity” to bump my stats up again, but thinking about it, it does bring an interesting question to the fore about the internet and the people who use it.

Since the internet exploded, we’re all aware of the power it has to spread information and people’s views. The adult industry has embraced this massively, which is well documented (great evidence is the fact that the .xxx domain could be with us VERY soon). It’s given the opportunity for people to express themselves and their enjoyments (some might say fetishes) with the world and other like-minded souls. And I think this is great, just because society say’s it’s peculiar, doesn’t mean everyone feels the same. Vive la difference!

But it does need to be watched. You can, as my blog proved yesterday, be misinterpreted and end up having children google food fights and come up with websites for food fetishes where people are having mass orgies in custard. But we can’t regulate it either. The moment we do, the freedom that the internet provides is lost and becomes the same as all other media outlets. The internet is a living breathing media outlet with no controls and no restrictions. This is the essence, the beauty of the internet but at the same time, also the dark and dangerous creature it can be.

A nice little thought to finish on……. The internet is a mirror for human kind. A beautiful, wonderful thing capable of truly astonishing and amazing things that boggle the mind, but at the exact same time capable of the most disgraceful and revolting things imaginable. Sounds like us to me!

I gave in about a year and a half ago and got myself an iPhone 3G. Before this, I’d always thought of myself as up to date with modern technologies and liked to think I was “in the know”. However, I’d always held off buying into these things as most of them turn into fads and never REALLY get going or become useful (point of case, Mini Disc players. HUGE FLOP) So I took my time getting the iPhone and I’m glad I did. I think I got it at the perfect time, the crest of the wave as it were.

Since collecting my third arm (as it feels like now), I’ve found myself becoming more and more attracted to gadgets and other computing technology. I love my iPhone 4, with a passion. Everything I need is in it. The only down side is the size. I’m finding more and more that I want something with a bigger screen.

Then what happens, Apple release the iPad…….. Talk about reading my mind!!! However, when I see the price, my heart dropped. I couldn’t justify a bigger iPhone for £500! But I love the idea of having something about this size that does everything, especially as my pc is in the final death throes and will soon go to the scrap heap in the sky.

So I’ve been reading up closely on the tablet revolution that appears to be sweeping the world. Android tablets being promised that will be iPad killers etc. To be honest, they’re all pants. Apple has too much of a strangle hold at the minute. Unless Google release an amazing piece of kit for a fraction of the price, they won’t unseat King Jobs.

But these tablets have brought my attention a piece of kit that’s gone under my radar. NETBOOKS!! Basically, a smaller laptop, screen the same size as a tablet, but with a keyboard (my opinion on touch-screen typing is still out) and the starting costs are about £150! To boot with this, you get USB ports, ethernet, bluetooth, external storage options, larger internal hard drive (starting about 160gb). Job done!

But then I wonder, is this one of those fads I’ve been so good at avoiding in the past? My iPhone is amazing and my pc is dying, so I do need another computing option, but whether to go PC, netbook or tablet is the question.

Any advice on this subject, please help me. I’m looking mainly for surfing, e-mail, chat, blogging, media (music, films and books) and a few online games.

I’ve had my iPhone for over a year and my wife has constantly moaned that I’m always using it. I laughed it off and told her to stop being so silly.

Now her mobile has been an aged thing that she’s had for 2 years! Can you imagine?! This thing didn’t even have wap!!!! So I finally persuade her to come into the 21st and buy a smart phone. I did try and convert her to the iPhone, but she wasn’t keen (Christ knows why as she used mine enough). Instead she went for the new HTC desire. Very nice phone, but a bit too ott compared to the iPhone.

Since having this phone, her Facebook is being battered!!! She’s on the damn thing more than I am, and I blog! Picture the scene, we have two sofas in our front room, me on one and her on the other. We haven’t spoke for an hour and a half, her on facebook, me on the blog (plus I have Lara Croft on tv distracting me slightly).

Has technology replaced good ol’ fashion chit chat? It’ll probably be easier to email her for a cup of tea than ask!